1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for preheating the combustible fuel into a vapor state and to a temperature near combustion immediately prior to introduction into the intake manifold and mixed with a predetermined amount of air, which itself may be preheated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since the advent of the internal combustion engine and its particular application to automobiles there has been a constant attempt to render the internal combustion engine more efficient in terms of both performance characteristics and fuel consumption. In very recent years, new emphasis on environmental control has placed an additional burden on designers of internal combustion engines since the vast majority of most devices designed to free pollutants from the exhaust of internal combustion engines have a negative effect on the performance and fuel consumption of the engine.
Fuel consumption per se has also very recently become a very important problem due to the fact that most countries throughout the world have suffered fuel shortages primarily in the petroleum based fuel products such as gasoline, etc.
In order to overcome the various problems associated with an I. C. engine, especially in the area of fuel consumption, numerous devices have been developed relating to the precarburetion treatment of the fuel charge immediately prior to entering the intake manifold and/or the combustion cylinder of the I. C. engine. The majority of these devices are generally aimed at increasing the maximum amount of energy available from any given quantity of fuel since it is well recognized that the I. C. engine as presently used in the automobile is highly inefficient.
In order to understand the problems associated with efficient development of I. C. engines and especially their combustion characteristics, it is important to understand the basics of combustion in the surrounding environment as we know it. Air, as present in the surrounding atmosphere contains approximately 78% nitrogen. Nitrogen has a negative effect on combustion in that it will not, unlike oxygen, support combustion by itself. Accordingly, a considerable amount of heat developed by present day means of combustion is directed to the raising of the temperature of nitrogen when combustion takes place in the surrounding air instead of in a purely oxygen environment. In the combustion process, the part of the heat directed to the heatinng up of the nitrogen is obviously considered a loss since it performs no useful function. It necessarily limits the temperature that is normally reached by combustion. However, nitrogen does have an advantageous characteristic in that it prevents the obvious, too rapid ignition or combustion that would occur if the surrounding atmosphere were made up of 100% oxygen or even a much greater percentage of oxygen. Normally, oxygen comprises approximately 21% of the surrounding atmosphere.
Gasoline and similar petroleum based fuels primarily contain carbon and hydrogen. These elements are, of course, nonmetallic, are combustible and have an affinity to oxygen. Oxygen, having a stronger affinity for hydrogen unites with it first, serving to set the carbon atom free. Solid residues or particles of free carbon are released in the midst of burning hydrogen and are raised to the state of incandescence during combustion. Carbon, however, does unite with oxygen and forms either carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) or carbon monoxide (CO). These normally are prevalent in the exhaust gases of an I. C. engine unless treated. In the typical combustion cycle in an I. C. engine, the lack of enough air or the presence of too much carbon will result in incomplete combustion which, in turn, creates a pollutant laden exhaust gas and/or carbon particles forming in the I. C. engine itself. In addition, the scarcity of oxygen needed to supply each atom of carbon liberated during combustion results in the formation of carbon monoxide thus, in turn, resulting in lower heat when all the carbon is not burned. Naturally, the free carbon deposited in the I. C. engine is responsible for engine wear and other derrogatory effects normally present in inefficiently operated or improperly carbureted I. C. engines.
Accordingly, based on experimentation, it is logical that more efficient results and true combustion is enhanced if the combustible elements present in the fuel charge have been prepared to a temperature near combustion immediately prior to exposure to the combustion cylinder or intake manifold of an I. C. engine. In addition, due to the natural draw of an I. C. engine during operation, it would be possible for vaporization of the fuel charge to be created and mixed with a predetermined amount of air whereby the mixture of preheated air and preheated fuel vapor be drawn in upon demand of the engine. In that no large liquid particles exist throughout the charge, a more exacting mixture can easily be achieved. It stands to reason that the introduction of heated vapors at the combustible temperature assures the maximum amount of energy from a smaller volume of air/gas mixture that has been expanded because of exposure to great amounts of heat. Many existing applications or modifications of present day I. C. engines including certain "modern" combustion systems, ignore factors that would enable better gas mileage and efficient fuel consumption. Perhaps the greatest blunder is to discount the value of nitrogen. Since a combustible mixture contains anywhere from 72-75% nitrogen as it passes through the combustion process it cannot be ignored since it has been considered a deterrent to proper combustion. If nitrogen were eliminated from the fuel mixture combustion could be predictably measured and near perfect combustion would be easily achieved. Since nitrogen is forever present, it must be considered an asset in that it singularly controls too rapid combustion or oxidation.